Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T15:25:44.588Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Macaque vision after magnocellular lateral geniculate lesions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

William H. Merigan  and
John H.R. Maunsell
William H. Merigan
Affiliation:
Department of Ophthalmology and Physiology and Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester
John H.R. Maunsell
Affiliation:
Department of Ophthalmology and Physiology and Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Ibotenic-acid lesions of the magnocelluar portion of the macaque lateral geniculate nucleus were used to examine the role of the M-cell pathway in spatio-temporal contrast sensitivity. A lesion was place in layer 1 of the lateral geniculate of each of two monkeys. Physiological mapping in one animal demonstrated that the visual-field locus of the lesion was on the horizontal meridian, approximately 6 deg in the temporal field. Visual thresholds were tested monocularly in the contralateral eye, and fixation locus was monitored with a scleral search coil to control the retinal location of the test target.

Three threshold measures were clearly disrupted by the magnocellular lesions. Contrast sensitivity for a 1 cycle/deg grating that drifted at 10 Hz was reduced from about twofold greater than, to about the same as, that for 10-Hz counterphase modulated gratings. Sensitivity for a very low spatial frequency (Gaussian blob), 10-Hz flickering stimulus was reduced so severely that no threshold could be measured. In addition, flicker resolution was greatly reduced at lower modulation depths (0.22), but not at higher depths (1.0). Two of the measured thresholds were unaffected by the lesions. Contrast sensitivity for 2 cycle/deg stationary gratings remained intact, and little or no effect on sensitivity was found for 1 cycle/deg, 10-Hz counterphase modulated gratings.

Together, these results suggest that the magnocellular pathway makes little contribution to visual sensitivity at low to moderate temporal frequencies. On the other hand, some contribution to detection sensitivity is evident at lower spatial and high temporal frequencies, especially for drifting stimuli. It appears that a major role of the magnocellular pathway may be to provide input to cortical mechanisms sensitive to rapid visual motion.

Keywords

Parallel pathwaysLateral geniculateMagnocellularContrast sensitivityFlickerMacaque monkey
Type
Research Article
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , October 1990 , pp. 347 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Derrington, A.M. & Lennie, P. (1984). Spatial and temporal contrast sensitivities of neurons in lateral geniculate nucleus of macaque. Journal of Physiology (London) 357, 219–240.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Derrungton, A.M., Krauskopf, J. & Lennie, P. (1984). Chromatic mechanisms in lateral geniculate nucleus of macaque. Journal of Physiology 357, 241–265.Google Scholar
Judge, S.J., Richmond, B.J. & Chu, F.C. (1980). Implantation of magnetic search coils for measurement of eye position: an improved method. Vision Research 20, 535–538.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lange, H. (1958). Research into the dynamic nature of the human fovea-cortex systems with intermittent and modulated light, I: Attenuation characteristics with white and colored light. Journal of the Optical Society of America 48, 777–784.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, B.B., Martin, P.R. & Valberg, A. (1989). Sensitivity of macaque retinal ganglion cells to chromatic and luminance flicker. Journal of Physiology 414, 223–243.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mandler, M.B. & Makous, W. (1984). A three-channel model of temporal-frequency perception. Vision Research 24, 1881–1887.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maunsell, J.H.R. & Newsome, W.T. (1987). Visual processing in monkey extrastriate cortex. Annual Review of Neuroscience 10, 363–401.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayer, M.J., Spiegler, S.J., Kim, C.B., Ward, B. & Glucs, A. (1990). Loss of foveal flicker sensitivity in eyes at risk for age-related maculopathy. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (Suppl.) 31, 188.Google Scholar
Merigan, W.H. (1980). Temporal modulation sensitivity of macaque monkeys. Vision Research 10, 953–959.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merigan, W.H. (1989). Chromatic and achromatic vision of macaques: role of the P pathway. Journal of Neuroscience 9, 776–783.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Merigan, W.H. & Eskin, T.A. (1986). Spatio-temporal vision of macaques with severe loss of Pb retinal ganglion cells. Vision Research 26, 1751–1761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merigan, W.H., Katz, L.M. & Maunsell, J.H.R. (1989). Contribution of the primate parvocellular pathway to acuity and contrast sensitivity. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 30, 53.Google Scholar
Miller, M., Pasik, P. & Pasik, T. (1980). Extrageniculostriate vision in the monkey, VII: Contrast sensitivity functions. Journal of Neurophysiology 43, 1510–1526.Google Scholar
Newsome, W.T., Wurtz, R.H., Dursteler, M.R. & Mikami, A. (1985). Deficits in visual motion processing following ibotenic-acid lesions of the middle temporal area of the macaque monkey. Journal of Neuroscience 5, 825–840.Google Scholar
Pasternak, T. (1986). The role of cortical directional selectivity in detection of motion and flicker. Vision Research 26, 1187–1194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perry, V.H., Oehler, R. & Cowey, A. (1984). Retinal ganglion cells that project to the dorsal geniculate nucleus in the macaque monkey. Neuroscience 12(4), 1101–1123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Purpura, K., Tranchina, D., Kaplan, E. & Shapley, R.M. (1990). Light adaptation in the primate retina: analysis of changes in gain and dynamics of monkey retinal ganglion cells. Visual Neuroscience 4, 75–93.Google Scholar
Schiller, P.H., Logothetis, N.K. & Charles, E.R. (1990). Functions of the color-opponent and broadband channels of the visual system. Nature 343, 68–70.Google Scholar
Schwarcz, R., Hokfelt, T., Fuxe, K., Jonsson, G., Goldstein, M. & Terenius, L. (1979). Ibotenic-acid-induced neuronal degeneration: a morphological and neurochemical study. Experimental Brain Research 37, 199–216.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shapley, R. & Perry, V.H. (1986). Cat and monkey retinal ganglion cells and their visual functional roles. Trends in Neurosciences 9(5), 229–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherman, S.M., Schumer, R.A. & Movshon, J.A. (1984). Functional cell classes in the macaque's LGN. Neuroscience Abstracts 10, 296.Google Scholar
Watson, A.B., Thompson, P.G., Murphy, B.J. & Nachmias, J. (1980). Summation and discrimination of gratings moving in opposite directions. Vision Research 20, 341–347.Google Scholar
Wilson, H.R. (1985). A model for direction selectivity in threshold motion perception. Biological Cybernetics 51, 213–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wong-Riley, M. (1979). Changes in the visual system of monocularly sutured or enucleated cats demonstrable with cytochrome-oxidase histochemistry. Brain Research 171, 11–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed